


#4 Come Here, Let Me Fix It For You

by ScullyLovesQueequeg



Series: 100 Ways To Say I love You [4]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Cancer Arc, Complete, Ficlet, Gen, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 13:31:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11760909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScullyLovesQueequeg/pseuds/ScullyLovesQueequeg
Summary: Mulder worries that Scully is behaving differently, and hiding stuff from him.





	#4 Come Here, Let Me Fix It For You

The door to the office creaked open, causing a slight groan as it drew ever inward. Mulder glanced up from his desk, removing his glasses to see who had walked in. The first thing he noticed was a small and slender hand gripping the door and pushing it open, revealing it to be his partner, Dana Scully.

There was a burn on her forehead that had already began to form a scab. The scab itself was from a injury that could not been more than a couple days old. She passed her fingers over the burn before approaching Mulder's desk, and sitting down in one of the chairs situated in front of it.

“Mulder,” She started in a way that implied she meant it as a greeting.

“Scully.”

Her eyes focused on his desk, her head lowered, as if accepting defeat. Mulder felt a sense of pity for her, but there was an undercurrent of jealousy that prevented him from acting on it. Silence persisted between them before Mulder finally said quietly,

“A tramp-stamp, really?”

“Oh come off it,” Scully hissed back, her eyes flickering up to meet his, anger brimming behind them. Her eyes swam with wetness, and though she wasn’t quite crying, she seemed close to tears. Mulder scoffed, but turned to the papers he had on his desk.

“I don’t get you.” He finally said, folding his arms on the desk, and looking at Scully, full on.

“There is nothing to get, Mulder. I’m not one of your cases, something you can study and ascribe a type to. I’m your partner. I'd appreciate if you'd stop bringing up what happened between me and Ed. It was a mistake.”

Scully’s voice was not quite angry, but it carried a plea within it's sound, and a hint of fear that was imperceptible. It tugged gently at the end of her words.

“I just don’t understand why the first opportunity you get, you hooked up with some random guy. I mean, it’s not really any of my business, but then you cost us the case, too. So I’m a little upset.” Mulder said, rubbing the bridge of his nose, between his eyes.

“Have you ever stopped to consider that perhaps, I have needs too, Mulder?” She shot back in a defensive tone, and Mulder found himself observing her in a new light. He hadn’t considered that she had “needs”, as she had never expressed anything like that. He reconsidered her entire person, thinking back to when her demeanor changed. It was after the case with Leonard Betts. He remembered the drive back to her place, and how upset she’d been. She had left in a hurry, and didn’t bother saying goodbye.

Then came the periods of long silence, and the small, sad sighs. She was hiding something, that much, he knew, but he didn’t know exactly what. More than once, he’d asked and gotten a reply that was less than helpful. There was only so many times he was willing to ask before dropping the subject completely. Between that, and the incident with Ed Jerse, Mulder had the funny feeling that he knew less about Scully than he originally thought.

“I’m sorry,” Mulder said, his apology minutes late, though sincere. “I shouldn’t—I shouldn’t be lecturing you. It’s none of my business what it is you do when you’re not working. Just know that I was worried when I got a call you were in the hospital.”

Scully was worrying the very tip of her thumb, chewing it to the point where it seemed almost unrecognizable. Mulder spoke and she glanced up at him, her eyes narrowing a bit, as if she were trying to complete a puzzle that was missing pieces.

“Thank you,” She said that lowly, as if forbidden, and that’s when Mulder noticed it. Her cross was not on her neck.

“Scully, what happened to your necklace?” He asked.

“It broke. After all these years, and you wearing it some, it finally broke. It happened when I was putting it back on at the hospital,” She said and she produced the item in question, showing him that it had broke. The clasp was nonfunctional, from what Mulder could see.

“Come here, let me fix it for you,” Mulder spoke, his voice uncharacteristically soft. Scully, surprised by his tone, did as Mulder asked, presenting the chain to him. She watched as he put on his glasses and took out a penknife from his desk. He also used a magnifying glass mounted on a stand and his desk lamp. It only took a couple of minutes before he fixed it. Wordlessly, he stood up, and put her necklace on her.

She felt his hands brush her collarbones and there was a distinct chill that ran up her spine. His breath was on her neck, and it was exciting her, to have Mulder so close.

“There,” He said, his voice abnormally close to her ear, “it’s fixed.”

When she turned to look at him, she was surprised to find that he had moved his face just to speak in her ear. She took a step away from him, her face flushed, before saying,

“I’m getting the tattoo removed.”

The admission shocked him; he hadn’t actually seen it on her, only the photo in the file. Now, he wanted to see it in person.

“Can I see it?” He asked, and Scully looked at him, unsure if he was trying to play a trick on her. She removed her jacket and draped it over the back of the chair, carefully, as if it was her only one. Then she slowly unzipped her skirt a fourth of the way down. Her fingers were trembling as they moved, unable to hide how exciting she found the situation to be. She didn’t even get this way when Ed came on to her on his couch.

Scully extricated the blouse from the confines of the skirt with precision, as if it was routine. She then raised the blouse, revealing her still healing tattoo to Mulder. She turned in a slow semi-circle, and closed her eyes as she waited for Mulder to examine the tattoo. His fingers wanted to trace it so badly, but it was still tender . He knew it would cause her pain.

He imagined that she sat in the tattoo parlor with her shirt raised, halfway. Exposed to strangers, she had her tattoo done. He imagined that she let Ed see everything, and Mulder was only allowed glimpses.

“…it actually looks really good on you,” Mulder commented, his hand moving to lower her blouse. Her hand touched his and she turned to face him, searching his features to find the joke.

“…you like it?” She asked, zipping her skirt up and making sure her appearance was as neat as she had prepped it every morning. Mulder watched her as she finally put her jacket on, and turned to face him.

“Yeah, actually, I do. I… I’m sorry I called it a tramp-stamp. I…” He ran his fingers through his hair, exhaling as he thought of what he wanted to tell her. _I was jealous of you and that Ed guy you seemed to like so much. I was jealous when I saw you in the hospital with his shirt. I was fucking jealous, Scully._

“It’s alright,” Scully said, her arms folding over her chest, as if to protect her heart. Maybe, in her own way, she _was_ protecting her heart from him. “I’m sorry that you weren’t able to finish your vacation. For what it’s worth, I know how much going to Graceland meant for you, and if you wanted to ever go back… I wouldn’t mind coming with you.”

Mulder gave her a smile, one that was dismissive in nature. “Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Scully gave him a ghost of a smile, but it quickly faded, her hand moving aside the stray locks of hair that had threatened to obscure her vision. Despite the action, she glanced down at Mulder’s tie, and spoke lowly, her voice just barely above a whisper,

“I just want to be heard, I want to be respected. I don’t want to spend my life following authority figures, going in circles. I want to be in control of the things that happen to me.”

Mulder did not answer. He didn’t need to. The psychologist in him understood that she was expressing a desire for control because she felt that it had been taken from her. The friend in him wanted to hold her, and to reassure her she was okay. In the end, the professional part of him won out, and he left her side to gather up the papers on his desk, as well as the open case.

“…I’m going to take a walk,” Scully said, shaking her head suddenly, and heading for the door. Mulder’s eyes followed her retreating form until she was out of sight, and the door closed behind her.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all. I'm finally finding a flow, I think, so who knows how long it will last where I keep writing everyday? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Shout out to my friend Katie who suggested the idea. 
> 
> Shout out to Hemingway editor for helping me proofread in lieu of a beta.
> 
> Shout out to all of you who still read my work, and leave me kudos and feedback. I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me.
> 
> I also have a [Sarahah](http://scullylovesqueequeg.sarahah.com) now, so you can leave feedback like, "You literally never proofread", "I found a mistake", "Wow, you write the characters poorly", "why do you keep disappearing?" and more!


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